Among the less well-known bi-partisan political activities in the USA in the past few years has been the emergence of approaches to developing policies and policy instruments in the education, training and employment fields based on evidence of what works and the collection of longitudinal data of US citizen learning and work pathways with this in mind.

Concerning data collection on the effects of government spending interventions, the Data Quality Act of 2002 (also known as the Information Quality Act, see  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_Quality_Act) applies across all government spending programmes and their evaluation.

The Workforce Data Quality Initiative of 2010 (https://www.doleta.gov/performance/workforcedatagrant09.cfm) aims to develop a longitudinal data base to permit longitudinal analysis of the effects of education, training and employment service interventions at State level by following individual’s learning and work pathways and outcomes.

The Workforce Data Quality Initiative complements the State-wide Longitudinal Data System, an initiative of the Department of Education.

A new organisation called “Results for America” (http://results4america.org/about/rfa/) aims to improve outcomes for young people, their families and communities by shifting public resources toward practices, policies, and programs that use evidence and data to improve quality and get better results.

The National Skills Coalition (NSC) http://www.nationalskillscoalition.org/  organizes broad-based coalitions seeking to raise the skills of America’s workers across a range of industries. It advocates for public policies that invest in what works, as informed by members’ real-world expertise and experience.

It houses the Workforce Development Data Quality Campaign organization www.workforcedqc.org that inter-alia has developed a State Blueprint that identifies key features of an aligned, inclusive, and market relevant State data system.

All of these evidence based approaches have implications for practice and research in the career guidance/ development field.

Our thanks to Joan Wills, formerly of the Institute of Educational Leadership, Washington DC, for this update.